Malaysia Busts 104 for Premarital Sex

Malaysian morality police burst into budget hotels just before dawn on New Year's Day, and arrested 52 unmarried Muslim couples, officials announced today. The couples, most of them students or young factory workers, could face fines and up to two years in prison.

Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah law forbids “khalwat” or “close proximity,” defined as unmarried couples being alone together in a private place. But the law only applies to Muslims, not the country’s Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu minorities. (More Malaysia stories.)